Published at Open the Books Substack

Following a week of protests that have given way to rioting in Los Angeles, Open the Books is taking a look at the cost of restoring and maintaining order.

 

Already ravaged by wildfires earlier this year, the city is now dealing with violence toward law enforcement, incendiary devices, arson and more. And all of that is on the heels of years of seemingly endless, rolling Covid lockdowns under Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass. The latter had the effect of shrinking revenues and thus staffing levels across the city, putting Los Angeles – America’s second-most populous city – in a unique financial and logistical position as it faces a summer of more disorder.

 

A record-breaking era of overtime pay is likely to keep costs high as police, fire and other first responders carry out their duties.

 

The cost to taxpayers isn’t limited to California or Los Angeles, though. City officials have alternately declared the protests peaceful and claimed they had them well in hand, and then also admitted they were “out of control” and that the LAPD was “overwhelmed. Regardless of the varying protestations and the outright legal and political battle being waged by Newsom, President Trump has taken control of the state’s National Guard to defend federal property and officers. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has allowed that it’s likely a 60-day investment with an accompanying $134 million price tag for federal taxpayers.

 

That’s all before we factor in the cost of duking it out in federal court as Newsom seeks to stop the President from utilizing the Guard.

 

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